Customer Reviews

We're still here: The rise, fall, and resurrection of the South Bronx

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Jill Jonnes' debut book will be of interest to all residents of New York City, past or present. It also contains important lessons on failed welfare policies and insurance practices.

She delivers sweeping historical background on the creation and ethnic make-up of the Bronx, overloaded with names and statistics, showing her abilities as a researcher. The Bronx was once a well-kept borough, but over the decades the ethnic mix changed and with it, the average income level. The Bronx began a long decline, unchecked by politicians. By the mid 70s, fueled by rampant crime, drug abuse, and a welfare policy that paid out $2,000 to $3,000 in emergency funds to victims of fire, the city was set ablaze. In a ten-year period, a staggering 80% of structures in the South Bronx were damaged or destroyed by fire--predominantly by arson. This left a city landscape reminiscent of nuclear holocaust.

But as the title, We're Still Here, hints, the city still lives, and a motivated group of concerned residents and politicians fight to resurrect their home. It's worth trying to locate a copy of this out-of-print book for the fascinating and complex history of this storied borough. -Christopher Bonn Jonnes, author of Wake Up Dead.